How Maharashtra acquired historic sword of Raghuji-I Bhonsle

India Today

02-05-2025

The Maharashtra government has acquired the sword of Raghuji-I Bhonsle, founder of the royal house of the Bhonsles of Nagpur and the military general who led the expansion of the Marathas in eastern India in the mid-18th century. This acquisition was made at an auction held by Sotheby's London.The value of the sword, which includes handling, transportation and insurance, is Rs 47.15 lakh, Ashish Shelar, Maharashtra minister for cultural affairs, announced on April 29. This is the first time the state government has purchased a historical antiquity in an international auction. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur, also mentioned the acquisition in a social media post.advertisementThe sword--a 'firangi' or a sword with a straight blade--has been purchased using a middleman due to some technical issues. It is inscribed in gold with the words 'Shrimant Raghoji Bhonsle Senasahibsubha'. The sword may have been taken by the British after the East India Company's defeat of the Bhonsle forces in the battle of Sitabuldi in November 1817, which was followed by the loot of their treasury. Raje Mudhoji Bhonsle, the descendant of the king and titular head of the senior branch of the Nagpur royal family, has welcomed the development.Dr Uday Kulkarni, author and historian, said that around 1740, Raghuji-I had undertaken his first major military campaign in the south as Peshwa Bajirao-I was leading the Maratha forces in north India.
Then, the Nawab of Arcot had besieged Tanjore (Thanjavur), and since the Bhosales of Thanjavur were related to him, Chhatrapati Shahu-I of Satara dispatched Raghuji-I and Fatehsinh Bhosale of Akkalkot as the Bhosales of Thanvajur to take on the Nawab. The Marathas broke the siege, defeated the forces of the Nawab, and Nawab Dost Ali Khan was killed in battle. Kulkarni said that Chanda Sahib, the Nawab's son-in-law, was arrested and kept at Nagpur for seven years. The Nagpur forces won Tiruchirappalli and held it for another three years.advertisementAfter the line of Murshid Quli Khan, the Nawab of Bengal, was overthrown and supplanted by Alivardi Khan in 1740, one of the generals of the former, Mir Habib, came to Nagpur and sought Raghuji-I's aid. Raghuji-I then dispatched his general Bhaskar Ram Kolhatkar or Bhaskar Pandit to capture Bengal and Orrisa. Though Kolhatkar was invited for peace talks and assassinated by Alivardi in 1742, Orrisa was controlled by Nagpur till 1803. Later, Raghuji-I and his son Janoji-I attacked Bengal and secured its 'chauth,' but the East India Company stopped making these payments after winning the Battle of Plassey against the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah in 1757.Raghuji-I, who passed away in 1755, was seen as the rival of Peshwa Bajirao-I in the internal power struggles of the Maratha court. He owed fealty to Chhatrapati Shahu-I and not the Peshwas of Pune. After Bajirao-I's death, Raghuji-I clashed with the former's son Balaji Bajirao aka Nanasaheb, who succeeded him as Peshwa. Nanasheb also made incursions into Bengal and defeated Raghuji-I in a small battle. In 1743, Shahu Maharaj brokered a truce between the two, giving charge of Bengal to Raghuji-I, and areas like Allahabad to Nanasaheb.Kulkarni added that Maharashtra now had the swords of two stalwarts from the 18th century—Raghuji-I and Raghunathrao Peshwa who led the Maratha forces to Lahore and Attock. 'There are other artefacts to unearth, and one hopes this is followed up too,' he added.advertisementIn 2023, the Maharashtra government had acquired on loan for three years the iconic 'waghnakh' or tiger claws used by the warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to eviscerate the Adilshahi general Afzal Khan in the battle of Pratapgad in November 1659. It has been sourced from the Victoria and Albert Museum and is being displayed in museums across the state, and is presently at the state government's Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum in Satara. The waghnakh will be returned to Victoria and Albert Museum on November 16, 2026.The state government is also trying to get back the 'Jagdamba' sword used by Shivaji Maharaj back to India from the UK. The sword is part of the royal collection at the Saint James Palace.The tiger claws, which are a unique form of weaponry, are made of steel and have four 'claws' with two rings for the first and fourth fingers. The waghnakh is designed to be concealed in the palm and the difference in size between the two rings indicates that it is a weapon to be used in the left hand. It is 3.5 cm wide and 8.6 cm wide.advertisementIn November 1659, Shivaji Maharaj went to meet the invading Adishahi general Afzal Khan at the foothills of the Pratapgad fort in Satara district. Khan, who was renowned for his physique and physical strength, tried to strangulate him while they were embracing. Shivaji Maharaj, who was anticipating the attack, used the concealed waghnakh and his dagger to piece Khan's stomach and disembowel him. Khan was slain later by the Maratha general Sambhaji Kavji Kondhalkar while he was trying to make a gateway in his palanquin. The Adilshahi army was decisively routed by the smaller Maratha army and forced to flee.After the fall of the Peshwas, who were the chiefs of the Maratha confederancy, in 1818, the British gave a semblance of power to Chhatrapati Pratapsinh of Satara, who was the descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In 1818, James Grant Duff was appointed as the British resident (political agent) in the Satara court and administered the state till 1822. It was during this time that Grant Duff, who later wrote a voluminous history of the Marathas, secured these weapons from the Chhatrapati. His grandson Lt Colonel Adrian Grant Duff, handed over the waghnakh to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Satara State was, however, annexed by the British in 1849.advertisementThe museum's website says that the weapon is accompanied by a fitted case, made after Grant Duff returned to Scotland, that is inscribed: 'The 'Wagnuck' of Sivajee with which he killed the Moghul General. This relic was given to Mr James Grant-Duff of Eden When he was resident at Satara by the prime minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas.' The reference to the 'By the prime minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas', however, seems to be erroneous as the term Peshwa means prime minister and the rule of the line of the Bhat-Peshwas based at Pune came to an end in 1818.The return of these weapons from foreign shores has been an emotional issue in Maharashtra. Abdul Rehman Antulay, the only Muslim chief minister of Maharashtra so far, had announced his intent to get Shivaji Maharaj's 'Bhawani' (as the sword is also referred to due to the confusion over its name) sword back from England.The nationalist and freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who was in England from 1918-1919 to unsuccessfully sue the journalist Sir Valentine Chirol for his writings in the book 'The Indian Unrest,' is also said to have attempted to get this sword back to India. The sword, which may have been used for ceremonial purposes, was presented to Albert Edward, then Prince of Wales, who later became Emperor Edward VII, by Shivaji IV during his visit to India in 1875-76.advertisementSubscribe to India Today Magazine